


shapes

by serafinapekkala



Series: kindness was not an accident [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: First Time, Hair-pulling, M/M, Solarpunk, consent is important, just a little tiny bit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:27:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24250570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serafinapekkala/pseuds/serafinapekkala
Summary: "I said, I am going to keep watch."Jowel blinked, attention back at the orc, focusing on his words, instead of trying to decipher meaning in his features."Even if I can see that watching seems to be a favorite activity of yours," Zult continued, raising his eyebrows.He was amused, Jowel realized, and he had clearly seen that Jowel was spending an inordinate amount of time looking at him.
Relationships: Human/Orc, Original Male Human Character(s)/Original Male Orc Character(s)
Series: kindness was not an accident [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2096622
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	shapes

**Author's Note:**

> This is a prequel of [kindness is not an accident](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24248905), but there is no need to follow up with that story, and both can be read as stand alone stories.
> 
> I promise... I will write more explicit things, but for now.... here's an almost fade to black.

Jowel was looking at the orc. 

_Zult_ , he reminded himself, feeling the foreign name on his tongue. Zult had been travelling with them for almost _three_ weeks, an unlikely companion given that Sanni and Jowel had been previously hired to... retrieve him and what he had stolen.

The orc had always managed to avoid the topic of the stolen artifact, at least with Jowel, who was left with Sanni's reassurances that there was no point in thinking about it now that all three of them were on the run. It had been Sanni and Jowel, _before_ , falling out the good graces of the Senate, and secretly hired by Senator Tor with the promise of revoked exiles. Things had not gone as expected, and apparently even Senator Tor's patience had not been as unlimited as they had tought.

Still, the life of the outlaw suited Sanni enough, the elven woman had easily recruited their previous orcish target, and had now promised them safety in the Outskirts. As if, Jowel sighed, they were probably just following a madwoman towards a desert of death. 

Jowel sometimes just wished he knew what Sanni was hiding. What Zult had stolen. But then, _they_ didn't know what _he_ had done, so he couldn't complain too much.

The orc - Zult - was now sitting in front of him, on the other colt on the dusty floor. He was taller than both Sanni and Jowel, and definitely bigger than them, but not as much as Jowel had expected from his childhood's books on orcs and monsters. Still, when the orc had accepted to help them in exchange for coin, Jowel had been eternally grateful of his inability to use guns, and his absolute ignorance towards magic. As much as had he trusted the money Sanni had wanted to spend on hiring Zult, Jowel was also not particularly fond of the idea of mercenary work.

"I said, I am going to keep watch."

Jowel blinked, attention back at Zult, focusing on his words, instead of trying to decipher meaning in his features.

"Still, I can see that it is a favorite activity of yours," Zult continued, raising his eyebrows. 

He was amused, Jowel realized, and he had clearly seen that Jowel was spending an inordinate amount of time looking at him. 

Jowel blushed, embarrassed at having caught staring so blatantly at their new colleague, if that could be applied to the situation.

"You know, I've never-"

"Seen an orc up close? It has been three weeks, I am sure the novelty feeling will be over soon." 

It had been three weeks, and the _novelty_ had not been over.

At the beginning, Jowel had used his furtive looks to measure the orc up, understand if he could overcome him and Sanni in a fight. _Maybe_. His conclusions were not clear, yet. Then curiosity had taken hold. How tall was he? Were all orcs tusks so short, why was one chipped? How did he not accidentally cut himself while eating? Did all orcs have red eyes?

The light was what he had enjoyed the most. While Jowel could easily manipulate water, it was the light and its reflections that he really loved. Not useful in a fight, which was why the last thing the Academy would have expected of him was to see him ending up on the run fighting bounty hunters. Still, he had always amused himself and his friends with his magical light tricks, slowly gathering the shine around him, letting it dance on its fingers into small illusions and shapes.

He had soon realized that the orc's eyes were slow to adapt to the change in light, pupils falling into a thin line, under an annoyed frown, every time Jowel had used this particular form of magic.

Feeling pettier than usual, Jowel gathered the flame's illuminating lines into his own hands, just to annoy the orc for having dared to see right through his staring.

Zult turned his head away, for a moment, eyes half closed, when a small cup of light slowly created itself in Jowel's palm.

The orc had very dark eyelashes.

Somehow, Jowel had the uncomfortable feeling that this novelty wouldn't end up so quickly.

Zult blinked, a couple of times, the black pupil in his red eyes slowly thinning. "Very mature."

Ah, so he had caught up.

"I suppose you can complain to Sanni when she comes back," Jowel shrugged.

Sanni had been away for two whole days, which was unusual, but she had promised them that the small shack was safe, a place she knew and had used numerous times in her life. _"No need to know how old I am, surely,"_ she had assured them, because the wooden refuge was quite _ancient_. It did not even had any installed bulbs, and no feeding for the symbiotic illuminating insects, but an old fireplace. " _For fire, just don't burn the place down."_

Who used fireplaces anymore?

Jowel willed the small light in his hand into the shape of a dog. It barely resembled an animal, but he at least managed to make it jump between his fingers.

Zult stood up, and Jowel fought the need to move his eyes back on him. Not looking. He could act like an adult. He started at the almost-dog, until the orc walked right up to him, crouching down.

Jowel forced himself to stay still. There was no reason why Zult would suddenly decide to kill him or fight him, he had been paid (by Sanni's seemingly infinite resources) and he had expressed no animosity towards them. 

Jowel was quite proud of himself when he managed to keep the illusion even when Zult's fingers tried to flick the imaginary jumping dog away. They met air.

Up close, Jowel could see that Zult's thin pupils were not as black as he had previously thought, but almost brown, to the light.

The orc used a finger to press right through the light-dog, illusion disappearing in surprise when it reached the center of Jowel's palm.

"Why?" Jowel asked. The touch had flinched the light back to the fire, its natural owner. 

"You know why," Zult replied, but he didn't move his finger. He pressed a bit more, conveying his annoyance. 

"Sorry. Your eyes... are quite interesting." 

Zult took his hand back, but did not move away, and Jowel egoistically took his fill of the strange man - orc? - in front of him. He _looked_ , through the feeling of the warmth radiating from the other's body, the realization that he was enjoying the sharp profile of the orc was not a sudden one. Curiosity had been a quick escape, but so close to Zult it was hard to ascribe the sudden need to touch to any form of curiosity. 

"Can I-" Jowel started.

Zult interrupted him: "Do you want to fuck?"

"-touch you?" 

Oh well. Here goes nothing, Jowel thought, because the last time he had been with someone had been with his girlfriend, back in the City, what now seemed like a lifetime before. 

"Is that a yes?" he wondered. He felt nervous, he knew he was blushing, he also felt daring, like the Hero of tales, jumping from the balcony to reach the evil Wizard. A leap of boldness.

"Is _that_ a yes?" Zult smiled. He was amused, that was easy to see. 

Jowel knew nothing of him, he realized. He just knew he was a thief, he had stolen something from one of the Senators, he knew he was an orc, and that he had no idea how a gun worked, or what magic could do.

 _Time to find out if his hair is soft_ , Jowel sing sung, silently, a rush of exhilaration running through his spine. 

He leaned forward, on the pelt on the floor. Zult did not move, simply looked down at him, arms now resting on his knees. 

No need to be nervous, Jowel decided, even more nervous than before. He was probably quite rusty at this, and the only man he had slept with had been definitely _not_ an orc, but more of a fumbling pleasant meeting in the dark of the Academy's library. 

Zult tilted his head. "So, what are we doing?"

 _No day like today_ , his friend Con had used to say. Thank you, Con, truly, no day like today.

Jowel jolted his hand up, resting it against Zult's cheek, nerves turning the movement into a stuttering mess. Zult was _warm_ , as he had expected, his skin rough. His fingers traced the line of the orc's jaw. He pressed against his chin, and Zult bared his teeth, tusks jugging out even more. The gesture looked more mocking than threatening. 

"Yes? Okay, yes," Jowel repeated, "Sure, why not?" He could almost feel Sanni's disapproval on him. He ignored it, his other hand coming up to press against the other side of Zult's face, uncrossing his legs to be able to kneel up closer to him.

"Can I kiss you?" he asked, heart at his throat, both hands pressing against Zult's cheeks, his face slightly squished, and Jowel chuckled. 

The orc slowly maneuvered himself down to his knees, hands coming up to touch Jowel's wrists. "Better not," He managed to answer, snapping his jaws twice.

A bit disappointed, but not sure he wanted to explain to Sanni the causes of an uncomfortable tusks on mouth incident, Jowel turned Zult's head slightly, on the side, thumb tapping his cheek. "Here?" 

"Sure, go ahead," Zult shrugged, an eyebrow raised to express his amusement at Jowel's requests. 

Well, Jowel would go ahead then. He dragged Zult closer to him, until he could press his lips against his cheek. Zult let go of his wrists, hands down to the floor to not stumble against his companion, but still had that look of amused exasperation at Jowel's antics. 

"A human tradition you see," Jowel insisted, lips pressing against against Zult's jaw, testing the warmth, the roughness of it. He softly scraped his teeth against the orc's chin, curious now of what reaction he could get. It was like having a new math problem, the excitement of discovery overcoming for a moment the need to feel apprehension or embarrassment. He tried a kiss at the corner of Zult's mouth, one at the top of his nose, he trailed down, sucking gently where the orc's jaw met his neck. 

"Don't maul my face, please." 

"You think you are so funny."

" _You_ think I am so funny," Zult threw back at him. Up close the orc looked younger than Jowel had probably thought, maybe his age? "Take off your shirt?" the orc asked, and he was still not complaining about the hands squishing his face, and Jowel was suddenly agreeing with that wonderful suggestion. He opened his dark jacket, letting it fall on the floor, before throwing his shirt after it. While Zult was working on his own coat's buttons, Jowel stood up to open his own pants. He stopped, hands a his own belt, wondering if he was being a bit too eager, or maybe even too presumptions.

"All shy?" Zult asked, grinning up at him. His coat and tunic had followed Jowel's ones, right onto the floor.

Jowel shrugged, ready to deny it, when Zult moved his arms to circle his waist, chin resting almost painfully against his belly. And because Jowel had always wondered about the short spiky, almost human, dark hair the orc had, he moved a hand through them - it was soft, not as soft as a human could have, but softer than he had expected. He run his fingers through it, and Zult's head followed the movement, chasing it. Jowel grasped it, softly, experimentally, curious when Zult just let him. 

Jowel used his hold, to push Zult closer, cheek now resting against him, before dragging his head back again, hand now grasping with a bit more firmness, Zult's eyes looking up at him. He just _let_ him.

 _Oh_ , Jowel thought, not as intelligently as he would have loved to, heat boiling his own face.


End file.
